Reader Post: Before Tisha B’Av, Temple Mount Sacked

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Israel lost a major battle to Hamas that has gone unreported by mainstream media. Google “Temple Mount police station” and you’ll find only a handful of stories in small outlets.

On Thursday night, July 24, thousands of rioting, Hamas-loving Arabs broke through Israel police barriers on the Temple Mount. Not only did the police fail to keep them off the Mount, but the police abandoned the Mount to the rioters. The Muslims then pillaged and destroyed masses of paperwork, office equipment and anti-riot gear before setting the station on fire.

Taken from the Facebook page of the Temple Institute, these photos show the police station in flames and masked Muslim rioters posing with police anti-riot gear.

This photo shows a Muslim man sitting proudly in front of Arabic “price tag” graffiti scrawled on Temple Mount walls. The graffiti is comprised of the names of Hamas rockets being fired into Israel.

Currently, it remains unclear if the police have re-manned the station or have begun work to repair the damage.

Ironically, the timing of the destruction of the Temple Mount comes days before the first of the Jewish month of Av, nine days before Jews worldwide commemorate the 9th of Av, the Jewish national day of mourning for the destruction of the Holy Temples.

Countering images of destruction, the Temple Institute, a Jerusalem-based educational organization dedicated towards Temple research, is seeking to retake the Temple Mount, at least on social media.

As hostilities rage in Gaza, Rabbi Richman, international director of the Temple Institute, said the video was timed to come out with an IndieGogo campaign to raise funds for architectural plans for the Temple.

The Temple, as a house of peace and prayer for all nations, he says, is the true Mideast peace plan.

“For two thousand years we have prayed daily to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Holy Temple,” he said. “This is the Jewish vision of peace. In these decisive times, when our nation is under constant threat and the peace we so fervently seek seems more elusive than ever, we believe with full conviction that the Temple will be rebuilt and that peace will prevail.”

The video is meant to counter myths associated with the Temple, such as the Temple coming about through a military maneuver or supernatural miracle.

“If we’re the people we’re meant to be, the world will turn to us, including the Muslims, and ask us to build the Temple. The only people who don’t think we have it in us, is us.”

The spiritual revolution needed for Israel to retain full control of the Mount is the spiritual revolution that will naturally create conditions for peace with our neighbors.

“People think that there can be peace, stability and normalcy when we have, unfortunately, abandoned the holiest place in the world to these arch-terrorists bent on our destruction,” he said. “If we think we can isolate Gaza and not connect it to the place of where divine presence rests, then we’re missing the boat completely.”

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